The Dangerous Poem

Writing beyond the safe and familiar

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant —”

— Emily Dickinson

What makes a piece of writing feel alive — not just technically correct, but charged, unpredictable, and unforgettable? How do you move beyond safe habits, tidy conclusions, and over-explained lines, into work that surprises, unsettles, and resonates?

In this live masterclass, you will explore how writers build tension, withhold information, create tonal and formal risk, and allow contradiction and ambiguity to live on the page. Through close reading and generative exercises, we’ll examine work by poets such as Emily Dickinson, Ocean Vuong, Louise Glück, Sharon Olds, Terrance Hayes, and Victoria Adukwei Bulley, seeing how they push boundaries without losing precision or craft.